Which is harder: social or fitness?
This year I am turning 40. It doesn’t bother me; I was actually excited to enter the next decade.
My 30s have been very difficult; that is a long story, maybe for another time. Since COVID, I have been putting a lot of positive energy into improving my quality of life. That is probably why I feel my 40s are starting better than my 30s.
Recently, I noticed my friend group has changed, and I want to meet new people. The dilemma is that I’ve started getting pickier about the type of people I like. This all started two years ago when I came across an Instagram post about a 5K race being held near my home. I thought to myself, “Yes! I want to do that.” Joining a race seemed like a great opportunity to meet new people. You know the saying: you should surround yourself with the people you want to become. Also, it's a healthy hobby to have. So, I signed up, even though the race was six months away. Before this, I had not done any kind of exercise. It’s only 5K. Not saying it's easy or hard, just thought the worst thing that could happen is I have to walk 5K.
That week, I started walking almost every day—walking in the morning, at lunch, and after work. I quickly noticed that I felt mentally invigorated, but physically, I was quite tired. I knew I had to take baby steps. Especially if you want to do it correctly. Before lockdown, I was physically good; I was slim and athletic. But during lockdown, I had a job, a computer job, and we weren’t allowed to go out. It was a terrible time, and bad habits were created.
Have you ever done that before? You saw something so intriguing and just dove in?
I remember telling some of my family members and friends; they thought I was crazy. A buddy from work he is young, in his 20s, a good guy, and he was into bodybuilding. We worked at the same company but in different departments at that time. He helped me a lot, focusing on the training.
Part Two
It all started in the summer of 2024, training for my first 5K. At that time, my friend group was minimal, and my work was not entertaining me. My daughter is getting older, and she doesn’t like hanging out with me (14-year-old, eyes rolling 🙄 ). So I needed to find something that would give me that feeling. I also noticed that if I don’t have something to focus on, I start thinking too much; we can get into that another time. 😬
Luckily, one lady at work loves going on walks at lunch; I am going to name her Jill. (Just in case someone from work finds this). Jill is an older lady; she reminds me of my mother, not in a bad way (Sorry, Mom). They have the same mannerisms. Also, I talk to my mother almost every day; my relationship with her is good. Haha, anyhow.
We gossip about work; we don’t like gossiping to others because you know how people are like. But with each other, we know it stays between us. Plus, we can be truly honest about how much we hate someone at work; it's very therapeutic. Normally, the afternoons go by faster after our walks.
Over time, other people saw us walking, and they joined in (So no more gossiping). So it became a little cult at work. That didn’t last long; to start, Jill has an average pace of 10 mins per kilometre when we are walking. That is fast for a walker. Jill likes to try to blame it on me because I am taller and she is shorter. But no, it took me a bit to get to her speed. At that time, my running speed was 9 min/km. Also, the route we do is 4.5 k in about 45 min-ish. So after 1 or a few times, they stopped coming with us; at one point there were 2 groups. The 2nd group didn’t last long. It became just me and Jill (OG). She has been at the company for 20+ years, so she has been walking before I came along (She likes to remind me that once in a while, lol).
A new employee started walking with us, Sally; she was in her 20s. I tell everyone she is welcome to join us; I just warn them that Jill is fast. First they laugh; by the time we are done with the walk, they are in shock. Sally was new, and her department is small, so she wants to meet other coworkers in different departments. We started talking about my upcoming 5K, and Sally mentioned she did her first 5K the year prior. I was so excited to meet someone who enjoys the same hobby. She mentioned she goes to run club once in a while and I should come. So excited; part of the reason why I wanted to start running is the social part; it's coming together.
I was a little worried about the run club idea because at that time I was running, but I was using a run/walk method; I couldn’t run longer than 2-3 mins at a time. Sally said this run club welcomes all types of slow runners, even walkers. Perfect!
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